Case study – Alyn Williams swears by his Hatco salamander

Alyn Williams at the Westbury in London's Mayfair has 10 chefs in place working in the kitchen and 10 front-of-house staff to handle the demands of a 45-seat restaurant. Everything from the china and the cutlery has been sourced by Williams to create a simple, yet beautiful theme.

Williams was also fortunate to inherit an extremely good kitchen set-up. However, to his mind he was missing one extremely important piece of equipment - a salamander. "I needed a top quality grill and it had to be versatile and energy efficient," says Williams.

After reviewing what was available on the market and going through the research process, he chose a Hatco Quick-Therm Salamander (QTS-2). A replacement for traditional methods, this particular model offers energy savings up to 79% by switching itself on only when a plate or pan is put beneath it.

"Not only can I use it for all my grilling needs, but I can use it for a number of other purposes such as glazing and caramelising. I make a fillet of hake as part of our lunch menu, which comes with seaweed butter. The Salamander is great to caramelise the butter. It's also great for warming dishes through," adds Williams.

The Salamander can cook, grill, reheat or hold all kinds of food. It also finishes products and produces an "au gratin" effect, perfect for chefs serving traditional dishes such as hotpots .

For more information on the Hatco range, visitwww.hatcocorp.com